Washington, D.C.—The Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling today called for restoring the long-standing federal ban on Internet gambling, citing a recent letter from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warning that terrorists and criminal organizations could use Internet gambling as a conduit to launder money since online games are easily manipulated.

In the September 2013 letter, the agency warned that, “Transnational organized crime (TOC) groups might exploit legal online gambling to generate revenue, steal personally identifiable information (PII), and engage in public corruption.” It also explicitly warned that if Internet gambling spreads to more states, these groups “will draw upon their experience with their illegal gambling operations to legitimize at least a portion of their enterprise.”

“The FBI has said definitively that sophisticated technologies can be employed by terrorist groups and criminal organizations to move money undetected, conceal their physical locations, and entangle unwitting online players,” said former New York Gov. George Pataki (R-NY), National Co-Chair of the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling. “The FBI’s warning is part of a growing body of evidence that demonstrates how dangerous the expansion of Internet gambling will be.

“Congress needs to do the responsible thing to protect American families and the innocent bystanders caught up in criminal schemes online. It must restore the long-standing federal ban on all forms of Internet gambling.”